Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Broadband

baroness byford: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Sugg on 18 July 2018 (HL9238), whatsteps they are taking to ensure that towns, villages and hamlets affected by the HS2 railway line can access the optical fibre network being installed along the HS2 line of route.

baroness vere of norbiton: HS2 Ltd is planning to install a trackside optical fibre network along the Phase One HS2 line to provide digital connectivity for its passengers. As part of work to design this network, HS2 Ltd is working with the Department for Transport and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to consider options for offering capacity to third parties, in order to share the benefit of HS2’s investment in optical fibre with local communities. Separately from HS2, the Prime Minister has recently set out ambitions for accelerating the roll-out of gigabit capable broadband across the UK.

Official Cars: New Palace Yard

baroness jones of moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the policy of the Government Car Service in relation to running their engines when stationary in New Palace Yard.

baroness vere of norbiton: Government Car Service (GCS) drivers are given clear instruction not to keep their engines running while parked. Regular reminders are sent out on this subject. GCS is moving towards low and zero emission vehicles to reduce carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions and the Department is working with them to speed this up. Cars operated by the Metropolitan Police Service also park in New Palace Yard but I am unable to comment on the operational instructions given to their drivers.

Official Cars: New Palace Yard

baroness jones of moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government which Ministers have given permission or asked drivers of Government Car Service cars to leave their engines running in New Palace Yard while the vehicle is stationary and waiting.

baroness vere of norbiton: The Government Car Service (GCS) is not aware of any Ministers requesting or instructing GCS drivers to leave their engines running while parked in New Palace Yard. GCS is moving towards low and zero emission vehicles to reduce carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions and the Department is working with them to speed this up. Cars operated by the Metropolitan Police Service also park in New Palace Yard but I am unable to comment on the operational instructions given to their drivers.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Local Government Finance

lord black of brentwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) action they take, and (2) sanctions are available, to ensure that local authorities meet their responsibility for the public inspection of financial records under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

viscount younger of leckie: We expect all local authorities to fulfil their legal duties for the public inspection of financial records under Section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Responsibility for compliance with statutory duties sits with councils.

Mayors: Cost Effectiveness

lord grocott: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 18 July (HL16984), whether they will now answer the question put, namelywhat assessment they have made of the comparative costs of directly elected mayoral systems and traditional systems of local government administration.

viscount younger of leckie: It is for local areas to decide what governance arrangements would be of most benefit and value to their local communities. The costs of such arrangements are critically dependent on local decisions on how the arrangements are operated, including decisions about member allowances and the number and frequency of meetings. Accordingly, as indicated in answer to the Noble Lord's question of 8 July (HL 16984), assessment undertaken by Government has focused on what different models can deliver, and concludes that the mayoral model provides a single point of accountability that allows significant powers and budgets to be devolved to an area.

Leasehold: Reform

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 24 July (HL17129), whether they will now answer the question put, in particular in respect of the Duchy of Cornwall.

viscount younger of leckie: The Government has previously responded that the Law Commission is currently reviewing the leasehold enfranchisement process, and will consider its recommendations when they report back in the next few months.

Non-domestic Rates: Appeals

the earl of lytton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in the review of the implementation of the package of reforms they undertook to carry out by 2019 in their response toCheck, challenge, appeal: Reforming business rates appeals—consultation on statutory implementation, published in March 2017; and what formal procedures are being put in place to ensure that ratepayers and their representatives have an opportunity to submit representations to that review.

viscount younger of leckie: The Government will communicate the outcomes of its review into the Check Challenge Appeal reforms in due course. We expect that the review will draw upon the formal evaluation of the new system which is being led by the Valuation Office Agency and which is currently underway. This evaluation includes engagement with ratepayers and their representatives. MHCLG and the Valuation Office Agency also work closely together to engage with ratepayers and their representatives on the new appeals system and other issues on an ongoing basis.

Racial Discrimination

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reviewlegislation on racism; and what action they intend to taketo eliminate racist attacks in theUK.

viscount younger of leckie: The United Kingdom has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We believe that no-one’s opportunities in life should be determined by their ethnicity or religion.The Government takes racist attacks very seriously, which is why we published the Hate Crime Action Plan in 2016. This was refreshed in 2018, when we committed up to £1.5 million for projects to tackle racially and religiously motivated hatred. We continue to work with the police and third party services such as the Community Security Trust, Tell MAMA and GATE Herts to encourage reporting and support victims of racially motivated hatred.We have also asked the Law Commission to undertake a review of hate crime legislation and, last year, launched a national hate crime public awareness campaign.

Home Office

Immigrants: Children

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 23 July (HL Deb, cols 668–70), how many children have been affected by having no recourse to public funds in each of the 54 local authorities;and what estimate they have made of the total number of children so affected.

baroness williams of trafford: There are no official figures for the number of cases subject to no recourse to public funds restrictions. Families including children may be subject to such restrictions as a consequence of their immigration status where they have been granted temporary leave to remain, or where they require leave but do not have it. The expectation is that the majority of people granted time-limited leave under the Immigration Rules, including those entering as visitors, workers, students and those on the path to settlement, will support themselves without placing pressures on taxpayers.Families granted time-limited leave in the family and private life route can request the Home Office to lift conditions restricting access to public funds to avoid destitution. The Home Office provides support to asylum seekers and works closely with local authorities operating duties to support those with community care needs, including families with children.

Chemical Weapons: Greater London

lord jopling: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that traces of Novichok nerve agents were discovered in the London accommodation used by the two Russian suspects in the attacks in Salisbury inMarch 2018.

baroness williams of trafford: On 5th September 2018, the former Prime Minister updated the House of Commons on the investigation into the two suspects involved in the Salisbury attack. The Prime Minister confirmed that traces of Novichok were found at the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, east London, where the suspects stayed. This statement was repeated in the House of Lords on the same day by the Leader of the House of Lords. This can be found in Hansard Vol 792, col.1799 http://bit.ly/2ycrsCk. The Chief Medical Officer made it clear in her statement on the 5th September 2018 that the room was only allowed back into use after experts deemed it to be safe.



Statement - Sailsbury 
(Word Document, 35.14 KB)

Immigration: EU Nationals

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government, furtherto the Written Answers byBaroness Williams of Trafford on 23 July (HL17260, HL17263, and HL17264) about monitoring applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) from looked-after children and care leavers, what plans they have to publish the number of EUSS applications received from local authorities on behalf of children in their care.

baroness williams of trafford: The third official statistics – ‘EU Settlement Scheme Statistics, June 2019’ – on the operation of the scheme were published on 18 July 2019, including applications received by nationality and in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, along with applications concluded by outcome. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics-june-2019The Home Office is committed to publishing more detailed quarterly statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme, alongside our Immigration Statistics, from August 2019. Home Office statisticians and officials are currently considering the content and will take into account the views of statistics users.



EU Settlement Scheme Stats - June 2019 
(PDF Document, 376.32 KB)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Syria: Oil

lord green of deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether EU restrictions on dealingswith the Baniyas refinery apply (1)specifically, and (2) by implication, to a third non-EU party supplying it with oil.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Baniyas Refinery Company has been designated by the EU since 23 July 2014. The reasons for its designation include that "it provides financial support to the Syrian regime". Article 14(2) of Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 provides that no funds or economic resources shall be made available, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of designated persons. All persons who are within or undertake activities within EU territory, including the territorial waters of EU Member States, must comply with EU financial sanctions that are in force.

Balkans: Unemployment

the earl of sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have (1) commissioned, or (2) supported, any study into the causes of unemployment among skilled young people in (a) Kosovo, (b) Albania, (c) Bosnia-Herzegovina, and (d) any other states of the Western Balkans.

the earl of sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have (1) commissioned, or (2) supported, any analysis of migration and the brain drain of skilled young people in (a) Kosovo, (b) Albania, (c) Bosnia-Herzegovina, and (d) any other states of the Western Balkans.

the earl of sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to projects aimed at tackling unemployment and migration in the Western Balkans.

the earl of sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many aid and development projects in the Western Balkans they support; through which (1) embassies, (2) governments, and (3) local organisations, that support is provided; and how much they have spent on such support.

the earl of sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of non-EU migrants currently in refugee camps in the Western Balkans; and whether they are making any contributions through the EU, United Nations agencies or other channels to support such migrants.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​The Foreign & Commonwealth Office commissioned a Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability (JACS) in 2017 (refreshed in 2019) for the Western Balkans. A JACS is a strategic assessment used to strengthen cross-government approaches to tackling conflict and instability overseas. The analysis covered youth unemployment as well as migration and "brain-drain". In addition, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has commissioned analysis on 'The Cost of Youth Emigration from Serbia' and analysis by the British Council for the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF).Through the CSSF, the Government funds the following projects to help tackle unemployment in the Western Balkans:21st Century Schools; which will provide training to children in over 4,500 schools, to improve digital literacy and core skills across the Western Balkans.;a project supporting employment and social services for vulnerable youths in Albania; andin North Macedonia working jointly with the National Youth Council and IT Chamber of Commerce to support digital skills training to young people in return for community work.

Department of Health and Social Care

Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater Manchester

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatwere the average annual waiting times for each accident and emergency department in Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: Data is not available in the format requested.

Medical Records: Data Protection

lord freyberg: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in respect of its guidance Creating the right framework to realise the benefits for patients and the NHS where data underpins innovation, published on 15 July,what is meant by "fair terms" for (1) NHS organisations, and (2) the NHS as a whole.

lord freyberg: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in respect of its guidance Creating the right framework to realise the benefits for patients and the NHS where data underpins innovation, which organisation or body will hold to account the boards of NHS organisations in ensuring that "any arrangements entered into by their organisation are fair, including recognising and safeguarding the value of the data that is shared and the resources which are generated as a result of the arrangement”.

lord freyberg: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in respect of its guidance Creating the right framework to realise the benefits for patients and the NHS where data underpins innovation,whether, in referring to NHS organisations, national NHS organisations, pertinent departments and arms-length bodies are required not to enter into “exclusive arrangements for raw data held by them”.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: As set out in the recently published guidance Creating the right framework to realise the benefits for patients and the NHS where data underpins innovation, the Centre of Expertise will offer support to those National Health Service organisations seeking to understand whether proposed data arrangements meet the requirements set out in the five guiding principles. The Centre of Expertise will sit in NHSX. The requirement that terms are agreed which are fair to both an NHS organisation and the wider NHS, is included to ensure, for example, that local NHS trusts consider arrangements which can provide benefits to the whole NHS, not just to an individual trust. This may include a NHS trust providing access to anonymised healthcare data for development of a healthcare product in return for access at a reduced cost to that product for the whole NHS, not just that particular trust. Fair terms should ensure that benefits returned to NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole are commensurate with the outputs that are generated by the data partner. The principles are intended to apply to all NHS organisations at the primary, secondary and tertiary care levels, including national NHS organisations. However, we will consider the inclusion of arm’s length bodies as part of the next phase of work in developing a full policy framework.

Children: Mental Illness

lord watson of invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that referrals to child mental health units from primary schools for pupils aged 11 and under have risen by almost 50 per cent in the last three years.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: No formal assessment has been made as comparable data is not available at a national level.Referral data for children and young people’s mental health services is published by NHS Digital in the Mental Health Services Dataset since 2017. This shows that in 2017/18 there were 259,615 new referrals to children and young people’s mental health services for people aged 0-18 and 381,528 new referrals for the same in 2018/19.The number of providers supplying data has increased in 2018/19 and so a direct comparison between the two years is not possible.

Breast Cancer: Clinical Trials

lord willis of knaresborough: To ask Her Majesty's Government which clinical trials are currently recruiting patients with HER2+ breast cancer.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is currently recruiting to 15 clinical trials for people with HER2+ breast cancer via its Clinical Research Network. The majority of these are commercially funded. To date, a total of 7,986 participants have been recruited to these 15 trials.Of the 15 clinical trials, 12 are commercially sensitive, with appropriate cost recovery from the companies. The data for these commercial trials has been provided from the relevant companies as ‘commercial in confidence’ hence we are unable to provide details about these trials such as their titles.However, the three clinical trials which are not commercially sensitive are:- Cancer Research UK; NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Co-ordinating Centre (NETSCC). Title: The UK plasma based Molecular profiling of Advanced breast cancer to inform Therapeutic Choices (plasmaMATCH);- Cancer Research UK. Title: Response to Optimal Selection of neo-adjuvant Chemotherapy in Operable breast cancer; and- Medical Research Council. Title: A mechanistic non-invasive imaging study of HER2 expression in breast cancer using [18F]GE-226 positron emission tomography.

General Practitioners: Nurses

baroness altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of pension provision for GP practice nurses and, in particular, the impact of their exclusion from the NHS pension scheme until 1997.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: Membership of the NHS Pension Scheme was extended to general practitioner (GP) practice nurses from September 1997, following an agreement reached with organisations representing nurses and GPs. Prior to this date, GP practice nurses were excluded because eligibility was originally limited to those directly employed by a National Health Service body. GP practice nurses are employed directly by self-employed GPs, rather than the NHS.The pressure on NHS Pension Scheme costs, which are met mutually across all members and their employers, meant that practice nurses could not be offered retrospective membership for employment before 1997. This was accepted by staff representatives at the time of the agreement, and remains the current position.However, GP practice nurses and their employers can make voluntary extra contributions to purchase units of ‘Additional Pension’ and so boost their NHS retirement pensions.

Health Services and Social Services: Departmental Responsibilities

baroness neville-rolfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the benefits to date of bringing health and social care together in one political portfolio, and (2) the benefits that will arise in future years of bringing the two areas together.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: The Department was renamed the Department of Health and Social Care in January 2018 and took on responsibility for the Social Care Green Paper. Whilst we have made no specific assessment, the Department has been working on bringing health and social care together to achieve whole-person, integrated care with the National Health Service and social care systems operating in a joined-up way. The Better Care Fund continues to drive forward the integration of health and social care in England.